Older Migrants in Germany

What Self-Management Skills Do Turkish Caregivers Have in Caring for People with Dementia? Results of a Qualitative Survey

Family caregivers can be overwhelmed by the care they provide within the family without external support. The development of self-management skills and the associated ability to actively and responsibly manage one's own health or illness situation therefore plays a vital role in the home care of people living with dementia. As part of an individualized intervention for family caregivers of people of Turkish origin with dementia, existing self-management skills were examined through qualitative interviews to gain insight into health literacy and empowerment in caregiving and in interviewees' own practices to maintain their health. Ten caregivers of Turkish origin who were responsible for family members living with dementia were interviewed using problem-centered interviews. We found that the target group has very heterogeneous self-management competencies, which are based, on the one hand, on existing supportive resources and, on the other hand, on diverse care-specific, psychosocial and life-world challenges in intrafamily care that have not been overcome. Self-management skills in family caregivers are influenced by a complex interplay of both available resources that support these skills and challenging caregiving situations. This dynamic combination of resources and challenges results in varying levels of self-management ability among family caregivers. Strengthening resources can help caregivers to meet the challenges resulting from caregiving and to expand their self-management competencies. There is great need for action in promoting self-management skills among Turkish caregivers of people living with dementia in home care. Interventions to promote self-management skills must take into account the individual resources of those affected as well as their social and cultural diversity.

Parental resources and heritability as factors shaping children's health. An analysis of twins' self-rated health using TwinLife

We assess the relative and joint contributions of genetic and environmental factors on health during childhood and assume that parental resources are part of the environmental factors shaping children's health. We discuss theoretical background and empirical evidence concerning the effects of parental resources and heritability on children's health. Based on these findings we formulate six hypotheses guiding our empirical analysis, using data from TwinLife, a nationally representative sample of same sex twin pairs in Germany. We analyze self-rated health of 1,584 twin pairs aged 4-18. We did find strong support for the idea that parental resources influence children's health: household income and fathers' education consistently show positive effects. In contrast to our expectation, we did not find that genetic factors influence the health of well-off children less than the health of children living in families with lower SES. We also did not find that the genetic influence on health increases during childhood and adolescence. On the contrary our results indicate that the role played by genetic factors diminishes whereas environmental factors gain importance for health of children while growing up. This finding is good news for those interested in improving health chances of children from lower SES backgrounds because it demonstrates the malleability of children's health.

Stronger feelings of loneliness among Moroccan and Turkish older adults in the Netherlands: in search for an explanation

The prevalence of loneliness among Turkish-Dutch and Moroccan-Dutch older adults is higher than among Dutch older adults of non-migrant origin. Three explanations may account for this difference: (1) differential item functioning might result in scores that vary in intensity and in meaning across categories; (2) the position of migrants is much more vulnerable than that of non-migrants; (3) the lack of protective factors has more severe consequences for older migrants. The Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam interviewed 176 persons born in Morocco and 235 born in Turkey, aged 55-66 and living in urban areas. They are compared with a matched sample of 292 Dutch persons. The psychometric properties of the loneliness scale are satisfying, although there is some differential item functioning. Older migrants have more frequent social contacts but are at a disadvantage in other domains. Taking into account differences in social participation, satisfaction with income, mastery and depressive symptoms, the difference between older migrants' and non-migrants' loneliness is reduced by more than half. Protective factors are equally important for older migrants and non-migrants. Exceptions are marriage (less protective for Moroccans), frequent contact with children/children-in-law (mostly for Turks), a higher educational level (protects Moroccans and Turks) and better physical functioning (less for Turks). Being an older migrant and belonging to a minority might further contribute to feelings of loneliness. Interventions can be directed at stimulating social contact, but also at aspects like enhancing the appreciation of their social status and avoiding negative interpretations of a situation.